LESLIE: Chris in New York has a question about refrigeration. What can we do for you today?
CHRIS: Recently, I had tested my house with an electromagnetic field detector. And most of my house was fine but when I got to my refrigerator, it lit up with caution. And I was wondering, is there either something I can do with my current refrigerator or perhaps, if I could purchase a newer one, would there be one with less waves being emitted?
TOM: Well, was this tool used right up against the refrigerator itself?
CHRIS: It was pretty close; it wasn’t right in front of it but was like maybe a foot or two away.
TOM: Mm-hmm. I mean all appliances are going to emit electromagnetic fields but generally they drop off very, very rapidly when you get a bit away from them. So I’m sure that if you used a device that was within six inches to a foot of a refrigerator, it’s going to look like you have a huge field coming off it. But if you were to drop that off, say, three or four feet, it’s going to drop down to almost nothing.
So, I wouldn’t get too worked up about that, personally. I don’t know that you can find an appliance that doesn’t have one. Technology is always changing but I do know that all appliances do have somewhat of a field.
CHRIS: Mm-hmm. Well, the only reason why I was really concerned was because it was – there are three settings – there’s safe, caution and danger – and just the refrigerator itself was hitting caution.
TOM: Yeah. What kind of an inspection was this that tested EMF?
CHRIS: Actually, it was one that I bought myself. I had bought ELF detector in – yep.
TOM: (overlapping voices) Ah, yeah.
CHRIS: So that’s why I was …
TOM: Well, you know what? I think as you move about your house, you’re going to be surprised how many things actually emit electromagnetic fields. But again, if you’re on top of it, it’s going to be super-high. When you drop off to sort of normal distances away from appliances, it’s going to drop down to very low.
So unless you spend a lot of time hugging your refrigerator (Leslie and Chris chuckle), I don’t think it’s going to affect your health.
CHRIS: OK.
TOM: Alright?
CHRIS: Thank you very much.
TOM: And just think about that. Every time you get hungry and you want to go for a snack, it’s not safe. (Leslie and Chris chuckle)
TOM: You’ll lose weight.
LESLIE: It’s the new diet fad of …
TOM: It’s a new diet system; the EMF Diet.
CHRIS: Something good came out of it, then.
TOM: There you go. (chuckling) Alright. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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